Artist Yazmany Arboleda was working yesterday morning to open an installation piece called The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama.

But before the exhibition opened, police officers and Secret Service agents descended upon Arboleda's makeshift gallery in New York City. Building workers covered the exterior windows with blue masking tape and brown paper.

Arboleda, 27, was taken in for questioning but was not charged, police said. He returned to the makeshift gallery about two hours later to find himself in the middle of a media flurry.

Arboleda said the controversial exhibition was not meant to threaten either of the presidential candidates.

"This show is about character assassination," he told the Miami Herald. "It's about how the media has destroyed who these two people really are. There are no weapons, no blood. Nothing about the work is threatening."

The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama is a mixed-media installation piece.

Many of the components were derived from images that had already appeared in the media. This week wasn't the first time the work came under fire.

Arboleda first tried to show the pieces in New York in March, but the exhibition closed within a week. The galleries came under intense pressure from the campaigns, Arboleda said.

This time, Arboleda rented a vacant space in Manhattan. He hadn't moved the pieces into the space yet; he was still setting up.

Arboleda had, however, hung two red- and black-lettered signs in the window: The Assassination of Hillary Clinton" and "The Assassination of Barack Obama.

The show was scheduled to open today.Around 9 am yesterday, Arboleda's mobile phone rang, rousing him from a sound sleep, he said. It was his landlord, telling him to rush over to the makeshift gallery.

"I woke up to the landlord saying, 'The police are here. There's a riot outside,'" Arboleda said. "When I got there, all these people were taking pictures. There were at least 10 police cars. Officers were literally everywhere."

Three detectives interviewed Arboleda, he said. Secret Service agents showed up shortly after, and took Arboleda to the police station for more questioning.

"They wanted to know if I had ever been institutionalised, if I go to political rallies," Arboleda said.

Arboleda was released about two hours later.

"We conducted an investigation to see if it was a viable threat," said Detective Joseph Cavitolo, a spokesman for the New York police department. "No charges were filed and he was released."

Arboleda was also cleared in a Secret Service investigation, spokesman Ed Donovan said.

"We had a conversation with him after the exhibition was brought to our attention," Donovan said. "But we did not ask him to shut down his exhibit or alter it in any way," he said.

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called the work "totally inappropriate".

Arboleda said the experience has been overwhelming.

"The artwork isn't even in the space yet," he said. "I was just beginning to set up last night. I was not expecting this."

Despite the challenges, Arboleda says he wants to get the exhibition set up in time for today's opening.

"My primary concern is that people be able to see the work," he said. "I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure the artwork is hung on the wall."